Candice LeRae

Candice Dawson is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Candice LeRae.

She is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion and was a member of The Way.

Dawson began her professional wrestling career in 2002, working for the Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) promotion until 2006.

Over the following years, she competed in various promotions on the independent circuit, including Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Shimmer Women Athletes, DDT Pro-Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where she is a one-time PWG World Tag Team Champion, making her the only female title holder in the promotion's history.

Other titles she held include the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship and the FWE Women's Championship.

She appeared as a substitute in a round one match at the ChickFight tournament in 2004, replacing the injured Miss Chevius, but lost in the first round to Princess Sugey.

During 2005, LeRae was a mainstay in the EWF, facing wrestlers including Hurricane Havana, Kid Omega, and Amazing Kong.

She continued competing for the promotion throughout 2006, while also wrestling for All-Pro Wrestling and Ground Zero Wrestling.

LeRae debuted in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) in 2006, when she put together a team to face a team managed by Jade Chung in an eight-man tag team match, with fellow future WWE superstars Seth Rollins, Chris Hero, and Kevin Owens where her team was victorious.

2007 saw LeRae branch out to the Midwestern United States, where she competed for Insanity Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor (ROH).

LeRae had two matches for ROH in August 2007, losing to Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze in dark matches on August 10 and 24, respectively.

LeRae began wrestling for the Alternative Wrestling Show (AWS) promotion in December 2007.

In April 2007, she returned as the valet of Human Tornado.

Her first main storyline in the company began later that year in September; Tornado had been abusing LeRae, who stood up for herself and cost Tornado a match at the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles.

After the match, Tornado began to attack LeRae, who was saved by Chris Hero.

As a result, Hero and LeRae united to take on Tornado.

She also appeared for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and unsuccessfully challenged Amazing Kong for the NWA Women's Championship in 2008.

In January 2008, Tornado, Claudio Castagnoli, and Eddie Kingston defeated LeRae, Hero, and Necro Butcher in a six-person match, which meant that LeRae was forced to face Tornado in a singles match the following night.

LeRae lost the match by disqualification when Hero, who was banned from ringside, came to the ring to aid her.

LuFisto entered the feud in March when she teamed with Tornado in a loss to LeRae and Hero.

The following night, LeRae defeated LuFisto in a singles match.

LeRae continued to be involved in the storyline between Hero and Tornado over the next few months.

LeRae spent the rest of the year in intergender competition, facing wrestlers including Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Roderick Strong, John Morrison, T. J. Perkins and Chuck Taylor.

In May 2009, she participated in a tournament for the AWS Women's Championship; she defeated Kitana Vera and Christina Von Eerie en route to the final, where she defeated Erica D'Erico and Morgan in a three-way match for the vacant championship.

She successfully defended the title against Carla Jade, Nikki, and Von Eerie until September 6, when she lost the championship to Von Eerie.

In 2009, LeRae entered a feud with Christina Von Eerie when LeRae defeated Von Eerie in the first women's match in PWG in more than a year.

Throughout early 2010, they teamed with a variety of male wrestlers to face each other, until LeRae defeated Von Eerie in a match in June to end the feud.

At Kurt RussellReunion 2 in January 2011, LeRae was on the winning side of an eight-person tag team match.

At PWG's DDT4 event on April 3, 2011, LeRae won a Joey Ryan invitational gauntlet match to advance to a number one contenders match for the PWG World Championship against Ryan later that same night, which she lost.

After competing at the inaugural Mae Young Classic in 2017, Dawson signed with WWE in early 2018 and debuted for the NXT brand, where she became involved in her husband Johnny Gargano's feuds before becoming a singles competitor.

In 2020, Dawson joined Gargano, Indi Hartwell, and Austin Theory to form the villainous faction The Way, until it dissolved the following year.

She left the company in May 2022 and returned in September.

Candice Dawson was born and raised in Riverside, California.

She grew up watching professional wrestling with her two brothers and fell in love with the profession.

In addition to her two brothers, Dawson has many male cousins, and was often the only girl when they would play sports together.

After being in a marching band where she played flute and piccolo, Dawson went to an unspecified college and earned a degree in culinary arts, and worked at Universal Studios Hollywood as a baker for a few years.

Numerous outlets list her as being born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

According to Dawson, this misconception is due to a decision made by an indie promoter early in her wrestling career.

The promoter in question did not perceive Dawson as a viable heel, so in an attempt to generate heat, she was billed as a Canadian.

LeRae spent the first two years of her career wrestling for the Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) and the International Wrestling Council.